INTRODUCTION TO PRAYER
The purpose of salvation is to restore lost people to relationship with
God our Father. Through the cross of Jesus, the barriers to that
relationship were removed. When we begin to trust God once again and turn
from our sin, He comes into our lives to begin a new relationship of love
with us. God is in every true Christian (Romans 8:9,10; John 14:23;
Revelation 3:20; 2 Corinthians 13:5). Our faith and love towards God will
lead us to recognise His presence with us, to talk with Him, to listen to
Him, to sense Him. This is prayer. We express our thanks, our faith, our
love, our hopes with God in prayer, and we receive from Him answers,
assurance, guidance, peace, strength, power, revelation of who He is and
what He wants to do. (Matthew 7:7-8; John 16:13; Philippians 4:6-7;
Ephesians 1:17,18 ).
WHAT IS PRAYER?
For true Christians, prayer [Gk: "proseuche"] is "communion with God".
Through prayer we actually experience relationship with God. The quality
of our prayer life then determines the quality of our relationship with
God. Prayer is talking with God. Prayer is listening to God. Prayer is
enjoying the presence of God. It can take many forms - for example:
worship, confession, thanksgiving, praise, petition (asking for things),
waiting (silent, listening and sensing of God) and warfare (command). If
we are baptised in the Spirit we can pray with the spirit, in languages
unknown to us but not to God. (1 Corinthians 14:2,14).
Prayer is not simply saying words. It is not repeating formulas. God is
looking for heartfelt relationship. We are told by Jesus not to make
meaningless repetitions of words when we pray. (Mathew 6:7). Tongues may
be meaningless to our understanding, but it is not to God. In a future
lesson we will give more attention to this subject.
There is a lot of prayer that never reaches God. "The Pharisee stood
and prayed thus with himself" (Luke 18:11). "One who turns away his ear
from hearing the law, Even his prayer shall be an abomination." (Proverbs
28:9). It is outside the scope of this lesson to talk about prayers
offered to false gods or to the devil. Also, we will not look at religious
prayers or traditional prayers that can be uttered without heart. We will
be considering prayers that come from one who has repented of his sins to
the best of his knowledge, and who walks by faith.
WHY PRAY?
1. We pray because we love God. We
spend time with God in prayer and communion because we love him. Just
as a man and woman in love desire to be together and communicate, so we
- if we love God - will desire to be with Him and to fellowship with
Him in proportion to our love for Him.
2. We pray because we depend on God. God is our source. He is
our life (Colossians 3:4). Through prayer we receive the comfort, the
strength and all the other resources that we need in life - both naturally
and spiritually. Prayer - relationship to God - is as necessary to the
spiritual life as air to the natural life.
3. We need to pray in order to resist temptation. "Watch and
pray, lest you enter into temptation." (Mt. 26:41). Much sin is the result
of the sin of prayerlessness. Through lack of prayer, we are weak, others
are weaker and Satan gains the advantage in our lives.
4. We need to pray because it is necessary for men to invite God to
act in salvation. God gave the earth to Adam and his descendants. We
must invite God to work here. If no-one invites God to work here, Satan
(the god of this world through man's universal rebellion - 2 Corinthians
4:4) will dominate the affairs of men and eventually the judgment of God
will come. By inviting God often and specifically, multitudes can be saved
that would otherwise be lost.
5. We need to pray because God commands us to pray. "Continue
earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving." (Colossians
4:2). "Then he [Jesus] spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought
always to pray and not lose heart." (Luke 18:1). The need to pray is as
great as the authority of God which commands us: "Pray without ceasing."
(1 Thessalonians 5:17). Prayer is so vital to all that God wants to do on
the earth, and so essential to us, that God commands us to do it all the
time. We should even deny ourselves sleep and food at times in order to
pray more and with greater power. (Matthew 6:16; Luke 6:12; Luke 21:36;
Colossians 4:2; 2 Corinthians 11:27).
HOW TO BEGIN
If you are not sure how to pray, don't despair! Everyone had to begin
sometime. Just talk with God respectfully but openly. Talk with Him as
your Father. Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father ...". Recognise God as a
loving Father. Recognise Jesus as a Friend and a Brother. Recognise the
Holy Spirit as your Comforter and Guide. Come to the Father in Jesus' name
(John 14:6; Hebrews 10:19). Begin your prayer with confession of your
unconfessed sins. In this way the blood of Jesus cleanses us and prepares
us to really relate to God. "Enter his gates with thanksgiving..." (Psalm
100:4). Thank God for forgiving your sins, for coming into your life, for
making you His child. Then just talk with God, asking Him for whatever you
need. Thank Him and praise Him for His answer. Spend time also asking for
His Spirit to help you to pray. Talk to the Holy Spirit. Tell Him you want
to know Him. "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do
not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes
intercession for us..." (Romans 8:26). The Holy Spirit will guide you into
all the truth (John 16:13) and He will teach you to pray.
PREPARING YOURSELF TO PRAY
1. Prepare your heart for fellowship with God (Psalm 24:3-5)
- Confess known sin in your life (1 John 1:6-9; 1 John 3:21-22; Hebrews
10:19)
- Forgive all who have offended or hurt you (Mark 11:25-26)
- See yourself then as dead to sin and sinless in the eyes of God.
(Romans 6:11; 2 Corinthians 5:21)
2. Have a purpose in prayer. Know what you are going to
pray about. It is difficult to pray fervently without knowing what you
want or desire from God. We should have a clear-cut, well-defined idea
about what we are asking God for.
Jesus told us to ask, seek and knock. (Matthew 7:7). In asking, we must
be definite. In seeking, our goal is to know God and commune with Him. In
knocking (intercession) we must understand what the Lord wants to do and
pray the Word for that thing.
Sometimes we do not know what to pray for, and so we can pray in the
Spirit (Romans 8:26). We can pray in tongues without understanding, even
for hours, according to the will of God. However, Paul stated that he
prayed with the spirit and with the understanding (1Corinthians
14:15). Our whole being, including our minds, should be involved in
praying. Our minds should understand what we are asking God for. However,
we can pray with the spirit (in tongues) when our minds need a rest
(Isaiah 28:11,12)
The fact remains, however, that when we set ourselves to pray,
especially in a group, we must be agreed about what we will pray for
(Matthew 18:19).
3. Know what the Word of God says regarding the thing you are
praying for.
We must renew our minds with the Word so that we know God's will on the
matter without a doubt. God's will is to do what He promises in the Word.
By meditating on the Word and letting it transform our hearts as we renew
our mind in it, we prepare ourselves to pray in faith. If we don't know
what the Word says, there is a good chance that doubt will enter, and if
we doubt we cannot expect to receive from God (James 1:6,7)
PRINCIPLES IN PRAYER
1. Depend on the Holy Spirit.
In prayer, you should look to the Holy Spirit to help you to pray
effectively. He can give you the right words with which you can pray
effectively. Its very good to ask the Holy Spirit to help you to pray.
Talk to the Holy Spirit as a person, and ask Him to help you to come to
the Father in Jesus' name.
Rather than rushing in to God's presence and saying many things, it is
good many times to quieten your mind and wait in God's presence so you can
feel God's heart and pray the things that the Holy Spirit shows you to
pray for. We should realise that learning to listen to God is an important
part of prayer.
We are told to "pray always with all prayer and supplication in the
Spirit" (Ephesians 6:18). It is the Spirit who is to lead us in the kind
of prayer we offer to God. He gives us the power to pray.
Spend at least part of your time seeking to be filled with the Holy
Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). The more filled you are with the Spirit, the more
effective will be your whole life with God.
2. Realise who you are in Christ, and on what basis God will hear
you.
We must pray to the Father in Jesus' name, not our own name (John
16:24,26; Colossians 3:17) This means that we are basing our approach to
God on Jesus' righteousness and goodness, not on our own. We receive His
righteousness when we repent, confess our sins and believe that we receive
His righteousness. We should know then that "we are the righteousness of
God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21) and we can come directly to have an
audience with God because of the sacrifice of Jesus in our place. We come
as children of God (Galatians 3:26; John 1:12), as members of the royal
family of God (Revelation 1:6), and NOT AS BEGGARS or STRANGERS. Therefore
when we pray we should expect that God will grant results in response to
our prayer. (1 Peter 3:12)
3. It is good to begin your prayer with thanksgiving and praise.
"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name." (Psalm 100:4). Thank God for
answers to prayer, for your salvation. Tell Him how great He is. It is
good to use the Word of God to praise God. This is not a form of flattery
in order to get God to give you things, but it is only fitting to thank
Him and praise Him. Thanking God will increase your faith. Praising God
will also increase your faith, since you will begin to fix your eyes on
God, His goodness and faithfulness and greatness and power, and not on
your problem.
4. Worship God. Many effective prayer-warriors recognise the
importance of spending much time in worship, even up to 80% of prayer
time. This deepens our fellowship with God, increases our faith and
pleases the Holy Spirit. We are then more likely to really hear His voice
and thus pray effectively.
5. Pray the Word.
God's will is to keep His promises to us. In prayer the Word of God
should be in our hearts and in our mouths (Romans 10:8). In our prayers we
should use the Word of God and remind God of His promises to us. This
builds our faith and it also pleases God because it is an expression of
our confidence in His Word and His integrity.
For example, you can pray "Father, in your Word you say that those who
seek you will not lack any good thing. I thank you that you will not lack
........... . I ask you for this in Jesus' name. Thank you for it. Amen. "
(Psalm 34:10).
6. Ask God for definite things that you want (Psalm 37:4)
You should pray in such a way that you will know afterwards what you
prayed for and you will recognise when the answer to your prayer is
manifested. Don't pray like this, "Lord, give me what you think is best.
If you want this, then so be it. If not, what pleases you. Your will be
done." These prayers may sound spiritual but they really express
uncertainty and doubt and cannot be answered by God in a concrete way. How
would you know if such a prayer was answered?
Imagine the answer and speak the answer to your prayer based on the
Word. This builds faith. Don't keep speaking the problem. Constant
speaking the problem magnifies fear and doubt. It makes the problem look
big. Fill your mind with the solution from God's Word, not the problem.
7. Allow God to lead you to pray for others in the church and
their needs, national and local situations, the government, the advance of
the Kingdom of God, and the growth of the church. God is looking for
people who will stand in the gap with Him in intercession for situations
that are beyond their own personal interests. Make God's interests your
interests.
8. Thank God for the results of prayer, both before and after
you see the results. (Philippians 4:6,7). Pray with thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving expresses your confidence that God has heard and answered
your prayer even before you see the result.
STEPS FOLLOWING PRAYER
Usually Satan will try to suggest to you that your prayers were not
heard. He will encourage you to look to the problems again and get your
eyes off God. He will try to get you to talk as if you are not sure if
your prayer is answered. If he succeeds in getting you to express doubt it
is likely that your mouth confession will cancel the effect of your
prayer. Therefore guard your mind and heart, resist the temptation to talk
negatively about the situations with others, especially with those with
whom you are praying.
Take firm control of your thought life. Think on positive things
(Philippians 4:6-9). By praising God and confessing the relevant truths of
the Word, cast down every thought that is contrary to your prayer. These
thoughts many times are nothing but the suggestions of the devil, who is
working to negate our faith.
Keep speaking the what the Word says on the issue at stake. "Let
us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who
promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23; 2 Corinthians 4:13).
With your imagination, see your prayers as answered. Abraham was
encouraged by God to imagine his descendants as the stars he saw in the
sky, before there were any descendants. So God will often give us a
picture for us to hold onto and encourage our faith. Speak nothing
contrary to this vision.
Act in line with your faith and your confession (James
2:17). Prepare for the answer to be manifested. Examples of this can be
found in Mark 6:39-40, where Jesus organises the people, preparing them to
receive the blessing of the multiplied loaves and fishes. Also in John
11:39, Jesus told them to take away the stone from the tomb of dead
Lazarus, a preparation for the answer to the prayer for his being raised
from the dead.
TYPES OF PRAYER
As mentioned before, there are different forms of prayer. The Holy
Spirit wants to lead us into a balance of all these kinds of prayer.
Worship: [Heb. shachah {shaw-khaw'} = bow down, prostrate
oneself]. The true worshipper God seeks worships in spirit and in truth.
(John 4:23). God wants truth in the inner parts (Psalm 51:6). In true
worship, there is a total bowing down of the heart to God. In worship we
express love and admiration to God which is a response to the revelation
of who God is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. Worship is voluntary
submission to the love, the will and the law of God. Any hypocrisy
disqualifies us for true worship. In worship we hear the voice of God.
Confession: 1. In confession of sin, we tell God with our mouth
our sin. We should specifically tell God what we did, or acknowledge what
we failed to do that we should have done. This is necessary to restore
communion with God and is a preparation for further fellowship. 2. In
confession of the Word, we tell God with our mouths what He has said in
His Word. We express faith and confidence in God and God's Word verbally,
and it releases the blessing of God to us. Very rarely do we rise above
the level of our verbal confession before God.
Thanksgiving: This is thanking God for what He has done for us.
We can thank Him both for blessings seen and those as yet unseen. It is a
key to faith and it is natural and right that we give thanks always to the
One from whom all good things come. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Praise: This is declaring good things about God, both about his
character (who he is) and also His actions. To say "God is good" is to
praise God. There are many styles of praise. Some are noisy and exuberant,
others are calm. Praise is well-expressed through music, singing, words,
shouting, clapping, dancing, shouting and giving to God.
Petition: This is asking God for the things we desire. Jesus
said, "Ask and you shall receive." (Matthew 7:7). We are commanded to ask.
Intercession: The ministry of intercession involves all the
other types of prayer. However, the emphasis of the prayer ministry in
intercession is the needs of others, and the advancement of God's
interests in the world. It is not focussed on praying for things for
oneself, but for others.
Waiting: (Habakkuk 2:1). This is a form of prayer in which the
soul is silent and waits for God to move it or speak something by His
Spirit. God promises to renew the strength of those who wait on Him
(Isaiah 40:31; Psalm 27:14). We are to wait patiently on God. Through this
we express to God in a practical way - not my will but Yours be done. If
we are always talking in prayer we will not be able to hear what God is
saying.
Warfare: (Psalm 149:6-9). This is prayer directed against the
powers of darkness. Our praises to God are also a weapon directed against
the powers of darkness (demons, fallen angels who are at work in the
affairs of the world and the church). We pronounce against them the
written judgment by reading the Scriptures of judgment against them (Psalm
149:9), we command them to be bound or to leave their positions of
influence or authority in the name of Jesus. (Matthew 16:19; Mark 16:17).
In "praying for the sick" we should pray prayers of command ordering the
bodies of people to be healed in Jesus' name. This is a form of spiritual
warfare since it is part of destroying the works of the devil. (1 John
3:8; Acts 10:38).
Praying in Tongues: (1 Corinthians 14: 2,15; Jude 20) This is a
method of prayer available to those tongues baptised
in the Holy Spirit through which they can pray the will of God through
words given by the Spirit. Since the mind (the understanding) is not
directly involved the mind has a chance to rest and wait on God and
receive revelation while this praying in tongues is taking place.
PRAYING THE WORD
Since God's Word commands us to give constant attention to the Word and
to meditate on it night and day, (Proverbs 4:20-22; Joshua 1:8), it is
clear that our praying should not be something separate from the Word, but
rather, that God's Word should direct our praying. For example, Daniel
found the promise of the time of deliverance for God's people and prayed
according to that. (Daniel 9:2). His prayer acknowledged openly the truth
of God's Word (Daniel 9:10-15). Many other examples could be given.
Elijah's prayer for the heavens to be shut was based on the promise of God
to do this if the people turned away to idols.
Praying the Word in a strict sense includes quoting it and using it in
our prayers. God responds to his own Word. It will not return to Him void
(Isaiah 55:11). We can take general promises from the Bible and using the
words of Scripture pray as if we expect God will fulfill them for us
personally. This is a powerful form of prayer.
DEDICATION TO PRAYER
God says, "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with
thanksgiving." (Colossians 4:2). "Men ought always to pray and not lose
heart." (Luke 18:1). "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). "Watch
therefore and pray always" (Luke 21:36).
Prayer is where our dedication to God is tested. This is where our
destiny is really determined. This is a command with constant application.
Either we maintain communion with God or we don't. Either we depend on God
and wait on Him or we don't. Either we allow ourselves to be led by Him or
we don't.
Prayer, to be effective, often requires fasting. This means denying
ourselves food. A normal fast is where we do not eat (although we may
drink water). This intensifies our focus on God, puts down the power of
our flesh and enables us to pray more easily, with less mental effort. The
only way to pray without ceasing and to have maximum results in prayer is
to be willing to practise self-denial where neccesary. This includes
Spirit-led fasting. Fasting for a day is normal and often very necessary
where we are not aware of the reason for which our communion with God is
weak. The other kind of self-denial needed in the life of a person serious
about prayer is "watching" or denying yourself sleep. This could mean late
nights of prayer or getting up early in the morning to pray. Jesus
practised both of these in His busy ministry (Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12)
The people who make a difference for God are those who are people of
prayer. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do
them. God is looking for people who willingly, out of gratitude, love and
devotion, will devote themselves and their free time to this vital
ministry.
Measure your love for God by your desire to spend time with Him in
His presence, and the priority you put on this.
Assignment: Meditate much and often on 1 Thessalonians 5:17
"Pray without ceasing".
KEY BIBLE TEACHING REGARDING PRAYER AND HOW IT IS TO
BE
PRAYER CONTENT : GOOD GOVERNMENT 1Tim 2.1 2.2; GOSPEL WORKERS Mt
9.38;
THE LORD'S PRAYER Mt 6.9-6.13; ALL CONCERNS Php 4.6 Eph 6.18; THE WAY
PAUL PRAYED Col 1.9 Eph 1.17 1.18; WITH PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING Heb 13.15
Php 4.6; WITH TONGUES AND INTERPRETATION Jude 20 1Cor 14.13
ACCORDING TO GOD'S WILL 1Jo 5.14 5.15. WITH NO LOVE FOR INIQUITY
Ps 66.18 Jas 5.16. BY REMAINING IN CHRIST AND IN THE WORD John 15.7. IN
FAITH Mt 21.22 Jn 14.13 Mk 11.24. WITH FORGIVENESSMk 11.25. WITH ASKING Mt
7.7. WITH EARNESTNESS Jas 5.16. FOR GOD'S GLORY 1Cor 10.31 Mt 6.13 Jas
4.3. IN THE SPIRIT Jud 1.20. IN HUMILITY Mt 6.5 2Chr 7.14. IN LOVE 1Cor
16.14. IN JESUS' NAME Jn 14.13. WITH DETERMINATION Lk 18.2.
PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT 1Cor 14.2 14.15 Eph 6.18; Jud 1.20 1.21;
Rom 8.26 8.27
PRAYER COMMITMENT: WITHOUT CEASING 1The 5.17 5.18 ; WAITING ON
GOD Hos 10.12; WITH WATCHFULNESS Col 3.2 Eph 6.18 Lk 21.36; WITH ENDURANCE
Lk 18.1; ABOUT EVERYTHING Php 4.6 4.7; FOR OTHERS 1Sam 12.23.
